GARY
LINEKER, GERMANY AND GREECE
The Winged Victory of Samothrace
is 2200 years old. Today, however, the spoils go for the Gothic Barbarians.
Cartoon by Tom Toles in “The
Washington Post” at www.washingtonpost.com
Gary
Lineker, one of the most outstanding strikers in English football’s history
once quipped: Football is a simple game. Twenty-two men chase a ball for 90 minutes and
at the end, the Germans always win.
One could say almost the same about the
European Union. There are 19 states playing ball in the euro group, for many
hours, and in the end Germany always prevails.
Gary Lineker, scoring on the
pitch for England and the author of the famous maxim off-the pitch.
Just over a week ago I wrote at Tempos
Interessantes (“OXI” at http://tempos-interessantes.blogspot.pt/2015/07/oxi.html)
that there were two courses of action that Germany could take reacting to
Greece’s referendum; predictably, the first one prevailed: A
vengeful stand. Infuriated by the Greek voters’
defiance, Berlin may choose to punish their daring by keeping the Troika’s
terms unchanged.
Actually, it was even more
vengeful than that, because the terms were changed, becoming even harsher and more
punitive.
There are two conclusions to be
drawn from this final (for the time being) episode of the Greek drama:
1- Germany is ever more coercive
and violent in asserting her hegemony in Europe.
2- Alexis Tsipras behaved like a
modern-day Greek Quisling. Blatantly betraying the will of the Greek people
a few days after the resounding OXI
in the referendum he himself had called and in which he campaigned for the
rejection of the German Diktat, is one of the most treacherous and
anti-democratic political actions in 21 Century Europe.
In light of these events it seems to
have become clear:
* The reason why Yannis Varoufakis left
the government.
* That Tsipras enlarged the cohort of
European politicians beholden to the German agenda.
* That Germany is ever more powerful and
ever more unpopular.
* And that Europe is becoming ever less
democratic.
Nasty and Interesting Times in Europe
these days.
POSTS RELACIONADOS:
“OXI” em
http://tempos-interessantes.blogspot.pt/2015/07/oxi.html
“GREEK Q&A” em
http://tempos-interessantes.blogspot.pt/2015/07/greek-q.html
“ERROS DA GRÉCIA” em
http://tempos-interessantes.blogspot.pt/2015/05/erros-da-grecia.html
“ESTRANGULANDO A
GRÉCIA” em
http://tempos-interessantes.blogspot.pt/2015/05/estrangulando-grecia.html
“PEDRADA NO CHARCO” em
http://tempos-interessantes.blogspot.pt/2015/01/pedrada-no-charco.html
“DEIXAI A ESPERANÇA,
VÓS QUE ENTRAIS” em
http://tempos-interessantes.blogspot.pt/2015/01/deixai-toda-esperanca-vos-que-entrais.html
“EUROTRAGÉDIA” em
